Gjallar-horn bids me;
Blessedness, like a
Gold-helmet, circles their up-coming guest!”
Tegnér, Frithiof Saga (G. Stephens’s tr.).
Frithiof watches the sleeping King
Knut Ekwall
By Permission of F. Bruckmann, Munich
Betrothal of Frithiof and Ingeborg
The warriors of the nation now assembled in solemn Thing to choose a successor to the throne. Frithiof had won the people’s enthusiastic admiration, and they would fain have elected him king; but he raised Sigurd Ring’s little son high on his shield when he heard the shout which acclaimed his name, and presented the boy to the assembly as their future king, publicly swearing to uphold him until he was of age to defend the realm. The lad, weary of his cramped position, boldly sprang to the ground as soon as Frithiof’s speech was ended, and alighted upon his feet. This act of agile daring in one so young appealed to the rude Northmen, and a loud shout arose, “We choose thee, shield-borne child!”